Theme Park Roller Coaster // Theme Park World - PlayStation 2

The game, using an unnamed mascot, nicely guides you through your very first park. The mascot tells you how to get golden tickets, which you'll use to get into other parks with different themes, such as Halloween, space, and dinosaur ages. The menus are a little convoluted, and the loading time for a park approaches one minute, but once inside you get access to that park's attractions.

Once you've set down an attraction's layout, you can then ride on it in first-person 3-D--an experience that is just about as vertigo inducing as its real-life counterpart. There is even variety in the roller coasters available: hanging steel, wood coasters, and even water rides.

The name Theme Park Roller Coaster implies that you'll spend most of your time designing and riding these roller coasters. Unfortunately, the game has more insane micromanagement features than SimBureaucrat. Every stage has at least three goals. The first is to stay in business for a specified period of time. The second is to make a certain amount of money within a year. The third is to get a certain amount of people to visit.

But if you are a roller coaster buff, or you enjoy the business simulation aspects of games like these, you'll want to add this game to your PS2 collection. --Todd Mowatt

Pros: Offers up something different for console gamers Creating and riding your own roller coaster in first-person mode is a blast Building your own park in this game is much cheaper than going to a real theme park Cons: Game's fun factor is watered down by business objectives Very steep learning curve will turn away younger, less patient gamers